1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a developing treatment apparatus and a developing treatment method which supply a developing solution to a substrate such as a semiconductor wafer or the like to perform treatment thereon.
This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority of the prior Japanese Patent Application No. 2012-201117, filed in Japan on Sep. 13, 2012, and Japanese Patent Application No. 2013-162536, filed in Japan on Aug. 5, 2013, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, for example, in a photolithography process in a manufacturing process of a substrate such as a semiconductor wafer or the like, for example, a resist coating treatment of applying a resist solution onto the substrate to form a resist film, exposure treatment of exposing a predetermined pattern to the resist film on the substrate, a developing treatment of supplying a developing solution onto the substrate after the exposure treatment to develop the resist film on the substrate and so on are performed.
In the resist coating treatment, a positive resist solution that generates a pattern by removing a portion exposed during the developing treatment or a negative resist solution that generates a pattern by removing a portion not exposed during the developing treatment is used. The resist solutions are selectively used in consideration of a resolution required for generating the pattern, adhesion between the substrate and the resist solution, heat resistance of the resist solution and so on. Further, in the developing treatment, a positive developing solution that performs a developing treatment on the substrate coated with the positive resist solution or a negative developing solution that performs a developing treatment on the substrate coated with the negative resist solution is used.
Generally, an alkaline solution is used as the positive developing solution, and polar solvents such as a ketone-based solvent, an ester-based solvent, an alcohol-based solvent, an amide-based solvent, an ether-based solvent and the like and a hydrocarbon-based solvent are used as the negative developing solution. Therefore, if a waste solution of the positive developing solution and a waste solution of the negative developing solution are mixed together, the waste solutions may cause chemical reaction to make it impossible to appropriately perform waste solution treatment.
As one example of a developing treatment apparatus that prevents mixture of the waste solution of the positive developing solution and the waste solution of the negative developing solution, a developing treatment apparatus is known which is disclosed in Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2012-54469. According to this developing treatment apparatus, a developing treatment with the positive developing solution and a developing treatment with the negative developing solution are performed in separate modules to prevent mixture of the waste solution of the positive developing solution and the waste solution of the negative developing solution.
In the developing treatment apparatus disclosed in the above document, however, since the developing treatment with the positive developing solution and the developing treatment with the negative developing solution are performed in the separate modules, the number of modules equipped with the developing treatment apparatus increases.